Franchisers Target Millennials and Their Entrepreneurial Mindset

Younger people tend to be suspicious of Corporate America and enthusiastic about the idea of business ownership.

It has been well documented that millennials tend to have a different approach to the workplace.

Millennials' entrepreneurial mentality far outpaces anything we have seen from other generations, and it has been largely driven by the rise of social media coinciding with the economic downturn in 2008. This generation, the largest in the U.S., is wary of Corporate America and knew it had to get creative in order to find meaningful employment.

As reported by the Huffington Post,60% of millennials consider themselves entrepreneurs, and 90% recognize entrepreneurship as a mentality.

The franchise industry has sought to capitalize on millennials' enthusiasm for business ownership, their interest in being their own bosses and their concern with quality of life.

"In so many cases, millennials' ultimate goal is to start their own business. However, they understand they need the experience first," said Tom Portesy, president of MFV Expositions, host of Franchise Expo South this week in Dallas.

All too often, their dream of business ownership never materializes as they like," he said.

A franchise business could be the answer to some hurdles of business ownership, given the support and training that franchisers provide. The franchise industry has diversified itself in terms of type of business, making it more affordable to potentially own a business.

"It's Franchise Expo South's duty to change the perception [that] franchises are not just hamburgers anymore. We have 200 companies covering just about every industry and every investment level you can imagine" Portesy said.

The International Franchise Association has launched NextGen In Franchising, an organization that educates the millennial generation about the industry as it looks to build the next generation of ambassadors.